Robert Eckels describes his experiences as former Harris County judge. He discusses politics in Harris county and in the city of Houston, as well as his involvement in handling the influx of the evacuees from New Orleans during hurricane Katrina,...

Mayor Bill White Collection;Houston Oral History Project : a great city voices its past.

Ed Gerlach began playing piano at the age of 5 before switching his focus to soprano saxophone and later tenor saxophone. Gerlach discusses his career as a saxophonist, including his time with the Glenn Miller Orchestra. Gerlach also share his...

Jane Ely describes her career as a journalist working for the Houston Post. She talks about gender discrimination in her field, the coverage of the J.F. Kennedy assassination, and other events that made news at the time.

By answering an ad in the Houston Press, Rosalie Clements became an employee of the Shamrock Hotel, which opened on Saint Patrick’s Day, 1949. She began working as an assistant to the hotel’s developer, Glenn McCarthy, and later ran a successful...

Billie Carr came from a family interested in politics. Her interest in politics started in 1950s, when she went to a meeting of the Steel Workers' Union of which her husband was the President, and saw the appalling living conditions of the Chicano...

The passion for sports writing was imbibed in Mickey Herskowitz from an early age. Growing up in Houston, he started writing for the Houston Post when he was only 14 years old. When the Chronicle purchased The Post, he started writing for the...

Dr. Russel J. Blattner came to Houston in 1947. In his oral history, Dr. Blattner details his medical career and describes the Houston medical center in the 1940s and 1950s. Dr. Blattner shares stories about many well known doctors such as Dr....

Robert Sakowitz talks about his family business in Houston, the Sakowitz stores; about the city of Houston at the time the stores were established and developed; and the personalities he met while doing business.

Bill Lawson, a political activist and civil rights organizer examines his life as a religious leader, and his participation in racial desegregation efforts in the Houston communities during the Civil Rights Movement.

Dr. Nicolás Kanellos, a scholar whose expertise is the literature of the Hispanics in the United States, talks about the contributions of this minority group in all aspects of cultural life; his career as a scholar, college professor, and...

Reverend Earl Banning recounts his experiences as a man of God with certifications and interests in mental health and social welfare: from his beginnings in San Francisco to his eventual place as Pastor of Braeswood Assembly of God in Houston....

Luis Cano was born in Corpus Christi and was inspired by his grandfather, Juan Bautista Galaviz, who worked to educate the Mexican American community of Del Rio, Texas, about their history and heritage. In the 1970s, Cano came to Houston and taught...

Tatcho Mindiola, director of the Mexican American Studies program at the University of Houston, describes race relations in Houston in the 1950s and 1960s, and talks about his career as a community activist.

Eldest of four children,Bert L. Long born in 1940, was raised in the Fifth Ward, Houston, Texas. He is a born artist with no formal education in arts, and a born chef. As artist and sculptor, he won many, many awards. Specially notewothy among...

Joseph "Joe" Jamail talks about growing up in Houston in the 1930s and his career as one of the top lawyers in America. He is considered one of the wealthiest lawyers in the nation and is often referred to as the King of Torts. Joe has given...